Welcome to the business of antiques, where I help you make your passion for antiques profitable.

I'm Tom McLark Haines, CEO of the Antique Steven Company, and I'm on a mission to make antiques modern, sexy, fun, and profitable.

I hate to break it to you.

If you're not making money in your antiques business, then it's just a hobby.

In this podcast, I interview some of the leading antique dealers from around the globe, getting their advice and sharing my own on how to sell antiques to the modern day antique buyer.

We discuss ways to recession proof your antiques business by developing strategic marketing plans, elevating your brand to attract the right target market, and planning for profits.

You make your money when you buy, not when you sell.

So we'll discuss some sourcing tips straight out of my antique Stiva little black book.

I'm teaching you the business of antiques.

We are so ready to go.

We are ready, ready, ready to rock and roll.

Jo Roberts, I am thrilled that you are here, and I feel like a great big jerk because I was massively late and I left you in the green room waiting.

And I am very, very sorry about that.

It was utterly delightful to be in the green room, I can assure you.

Thank you so much for your patience.

Okay, I am beyond honored to have you here and.

No, you have.

First of all, you have this amazing presence on camera, but you have shot up and taken over the antiques world, and you're someone that I immensely admire and respect, and I think you are doing everything right.

Well, I'm blushing.

I'm blushing.

I mean.

Oh, stop it.

Just stop it.

Okay, so my colleague, Gail McLeod with Antiques News and Fairs, who has made the introduction.

Introduction to you, Gail always says, whenever I, whenever I compliment her or big her up in front of someone.

Wait, I have to tell you this story.

So once at the lapada conference in London, I was speaking, and the I.

We were in the House of Lords.

It was so very impressive.

And I was speaking and I start talking and I see Gil slinking down in her chair and getting smaller and smaller by the moment.

And I said, and I knew what would happen if I say, okay, this.

I just kept making things bigger and bigger.

And then I was complimenting her and she was shrinking.

And I said, and that's how Americans are different than Brits.

We as Americans, naturally.

I think I grew up.

I just popped a button there.

I grew up.

I grew up that when I was in school, you had to stand up every week and give a presentation, and you would stand up and say, hi, I'm Thomas, in my case Now, I'm Tom McClure Keynes.

I'm the antique Steva.

And I automatically go into presenter mode because I grew up giving presentations every Friday, every show and tell.

And Brits, I think, naturally do not do that.

They naturally, they don't want to say how fabulous they are.

Whereas as an American, we immediately say how amazing we are.

We're like, this is who I am, I'm amazing.

Don't you?

And as Gail was slinking in the chair, I said, and that's the difference between Americans and Brits.

And if you as a Brit want to sell to the American market, we do not know who you are.

We need you to tell us.

Yeah.

And on that note, Jo Roberts, please introduce yourself.

I'm just amazing.

No, you're a freaking rock star.

You're amazing.

Well, actually, you're absolutely right.

I think that is one of the fundamental differences between us.

We are naturally resident, I can't say the word resident, whatever it is.

And we don't like to sort of shout how brilliant we are.

But on the other hand, one of the things about reaching 72 years of age is that actually by this stage you're like, well actually, actually it's not bad what I'm doing, you know, and, and I've worked really hard and blah, blah, blah, blah.

So it's has got quite interesting in that respect.

Yeah, that's interesting.

Well, I think, dear Lord, what am I going to be like at 72?

I'm 51 and I think if, if I'm going to start caring less what other people think by the time I'm 72, I can't imagine what I'll say next.

I don't think it's, I don't, I care very much what I say and I do care about other people, but it's about being, I guess, very honest, really in every respect.

Yeah, I mean it's, it's very, very liberating, I have to say.

Yeah, yeah, very liberating.

I can imagine.

Okay, first of all, you have the most amazing style, like seriously spectacular hair, spectacular clothes, a full on great vibe.

So for our listeners, Jo Roberts is a celebrity in the antiques trade and you have had, you've lived a variety of lives and had a variety of careers.

And for our, most of my clients who are antique dealers have been reinventing themselves in.

They.

My average client maybe was an accountant, maybe was a nurse, maybe was a lawyer.

And they at a certain point said, why am I doing this job that I don't want to be doing.

And they left their career to pursue their passion for antiques.

And one of the reasons I wanted to have you on here, on this podcast is yours is a story of reinvented reinvention.

Yeah, it's.

I mean, I find it absolutely fascinating.

Life and the twists and turns and I'm.

I'm the most surprised person to find myself in the position I am now.

I had no intention of being an antique dealer at all.

I was, as you said, you know, went through various stages, trained initially as a teacher, had kids, and then found myself going back into education, ending up being this thing called an artist, which.

And I had a really successful career.

I have.

It was wonderful, amazing for 25 years.

And then out of nowhere, literally out of nowhere, a little thing happened.

Turned on a sixpence.

Not sure what that is.

That's old.

That's old money.

Turned on a sixpence.

It's old UK money.

And, and this happened.

And I think it's very much for me, when I give talks and talk to other people, it's about listening to hear.

It's about listening to your intuition about your passion.

And I'm a great planner, but at the same time adapting and continuously looking and, And I guess, I guess I, I must be.

And I, yeah, very driven.

Very driven.

Yeah.

I don't know where that comes from.

So here I am.

Yeah, Six years is six years ago I started.

So.

So take me through how this happened.

Like, how did you actually start as an antique stealer?

Like, oh, well, how did it go from collecting to selling?

It's hysterical.

Oh, I'm not a collector.

Not a collector.

Never collected.

So what happened was very successful career, as I said.

But you know, you get highs and lows being an artist.

And I was having a bit of a low and I asked a friend to come and give me a studio crit to talk about the work.

And it was great.

And at the end of it, we were just having a cup of coffee and I said, oh, well, you know, I'm doing that classic thing.

This is about six years ago.

I'm doing that classic thing to get some bit of extra money of emptying the loft and, and selling on ebay.

And I thought it's great fun.

And she said, and honest to God, this is the turning on the sixth month.

She said, well, my next door neighbors do that.

They, they had go on these amazing holidays and everything.

And I went, oh, yeah?

And she said, yeah, they, they buy from their local auction house.

All right, Two days later, I went to my Local auction house.

That was it.

I was.

I was completely hooked.

And for about three years I tried to do the two side by side.

But the.

But the love of the buying and selling just took over and I started very simply, car boot sales.

That's where I started six years ago and just progressed.

So what are some of the objects you've fallen in love with?

What are some of your objects of desire?

Oh, well, I mean, I know it's possibly a slightly overused word, but it.

Very eclectic.

I think the core of what I love, artwork, I guess that's to be understood.

Textiles and ceramics.

But then things that are unusual, things that are slightly different.

I don't want to use that word unique, because I don't generally think there is anything that's really unique.

Something that's a little bit.

Yeah.

A little bit different.

That's.

And it.

So it could be.

It could be anything, really.

And it often is.

You know the expression in French, coup de food?

No, it's kuda food is struck by lightning and it means love at first sight.

And this is what I always describe the experience of an antiques dealer is.

You don't go like, our clients always give us a list of what they're looking for before they come on an antique buying tour.

But I always tell them, of course we're going to get you to the places that have the most likely to have the things you're looking for.

But the real magic is in the cuda food.

When you fall in love with something that you have to have it, you.

You have to research about it.

You have to know everything there is to know about it.

Yeah.

Oh, that is that.

Oh, actually, I have to remember that.

That is exactly it.

And you just, you know, money goes out of the window almost.

I mean, but you know, it's that head and heart thing.

So you have to think, well, as a dealer, can I make on it?

You know, is there profit in it?

But sometimes if it's something really, really special, I will have it.

Knowing that there's only going to be a minimum of profit, because it is so me.

And it has that.

It has that attraction and it's just.

It's just the best feeling ever.

Okay.

You literally highlighted two of my favorite points with antique dealers.

One, sometimes you have to have that loss leader that you're not making a lot of profit on.

But I mean, it just sets your reputation.

It sets the stage for everything you do.

It represents who you are.

So one is that.

And what was the other thing you just said?

I just Lost my train of thought on the other.

Do you remember that you love it Heart and held by the heart and head.

It was about.

It doesn't matter.

I had two points, but it'll come back to me later if it's important.

But I think that lost leaders thing, I think is particularly for me when I'm really still trying to make my reputation as a.

As a serious antique.

Well, not as a serious.

No, I'd never be a serious antique, but you know what I mean.

As an antique dealer, having that those objects which say so much about what I represent is really, really important, I think for sure.

Yeah, definitely.

And you, you know, they.

It's so hard to find really outstanding quality pieces that when you see it, you just.

Yeah, I'm just gonna go for it.

But when you know, you know is what it comes down to.

So.

I have been working in this trade for almost 20 years, and I've never been.

I, we, as.

As a company, we lead antique buying tours.

And I've never been at the stage in my life where either I wanted to have a store or that I felt I've always enjoy.

Enjoyed helping other people source.

And at a certain point, I've had opportunities to open stores in America and I.

I would consider doing something in America someday, but I never wanted to compete with my clients.

And so I felt like anything I would do would be competing with our clients on our antique buying tours.

And I.

So I recently got a house in Chianti, and the house is nothing.

The house is.

The house.

It's.

It's great in that it's three bedrooms, three baths, and the living room is teeny weeny weeny, and it's a living room kitchen combo.

But my theory is all the life is going to be lived outdoors in the middle of the olive groves and vines.

And it's three bedrooms, three baths.

So once we're in our room, nobody has to talk to anybody anyway.

And so.

But the house is not.

The house isn't fabulous, but attached to the house is the world's most spectacular magazine.

So it's an antiques warehouse that is enormous and it's filled.

It's just great architecture with, you know, the enormous wine vats, the big silver barrels.

So it's so photogenic.

It's this gorgeous architecture that.

So really, I have a magazine that happens to have a house attached to it is really what has happened.

And so soon as I saw the magazine, I texted one friend who was an antiques dealer, and I said, come look at this.

And they walked in and they looked at it and they're like, oh, yeah, I would sell here.

And I'm.

And we went through a whole bunch of things, and within four days, I had managed to accidentally put together an antiques collective, which then as soon as I was putting together my own collective, I said, well, maybe it's time.

Then I was putting together a collective.

So then I needed to hire a manager to manage the space because I'm too busy to do it myself.

And then I said, well, if I have a manager, I should probably not just be selling other people's stuff.

Maybe it's time for me to do it.

And so at the.

For the very first moment in my life, I am buying to sell antiques.

And it's.

After 20 years of being a fixture in this industry, I'm now doing for myself what I have done for clients for years.

And it's interesting because I really.

I have my philosophies of what I want to stay firm on and making sure that we're supplying our clients, which means digging deeper in finding prices that I can sell at and make my markup.

And they can still make their markup.

Yeah, well, new in the industry right now.

That's.

That's wonderful.

I mean, how exciting is that?

That's amazing.

So you need to come visit, by the way.

Oh, yeah.

So we're gonna get Gail, and you're going.

You and Gail can come down to Chianti, and we.

We will be under the Tuscan sun together.

Oh, don't.

Don't.

I just adore Tuscany the best.

But that.

That is really interesting that you have reached that stage and it just needed the right things to come together for you to feel that it's it.

You're ready.

Yeah, right.

It was exactly it.

It was having the perfect storm there now.

Okay, so back up, if you don't mind, and tell us, Tell our listeners a little bit about how your career has evolved in the antiques realm, because so from going six years ago to.

To becoming an auction addiction to now.

I mean, now you have been on the bidding room.

French.

How do you say the show?

French.

Vintage.

It's a vintage.

Vintage French farmhouse.

Yeah, the vintage French farmhouse.

I always say it backwards, which I, by the way, I believe is the best antique show on tv.

So, I mean, when I say that you've shot up, like you've shot to stardom.

You have done so much in the last six years.

So how did this happen that you ended up becoming a television star?

Well, by the way, I want to know what your kids thought of this too.

Well.

I have Covid to thank, in all honesty.

So I was, I.

I progressed from doing car boots and then fairs and then I was taken.

You're.

I think you'll be particularly interested in this.

I was had taken under the wing by an antique dealer.

He'd, you know, done it all his life.

He mainly exported to Japan and he must have seen something which was really interesting.

And he took me under his wing and he took me to Kempton, which I suspect you know about where Sunbury Sun.

Sunbury Antiques have twice a month an antique fair there primarily for traders.

And I remember vividly walking in and going, oh my God, this is my tribe.

I have found them.

And it was something that I never ever found in the art world and have continued to find.

This is my tribe.

And so I was selling at Kempton twice a month and I had it all in my diary, had it all in my calendar and it was all going smoothly.

And then on the.

We had the Tuesday, I think it was early March.

And the next day we went down into lockdown.

And I said this quite seriously, as you.

As you can see or no, I'm.

I'm an introverted extrovert.

I love communicating with people, I love engaging people, but I'm basically a loner.

And when my lockdown came the next day, I sat there and I thought, oh, this isn't going to be good for my mental health.

This.

This is not going to be good.

What.

What can I do?

And I had been on Instagram just a little bit, you know, and I realized they did lives.

And so I started doing.

I started sitting there talking to myself.

And it's the hardest thing to do.

It's partially why when I do podcasts, I have a guest to talk to because it's so hard for me to talk to myself on camera.

Oh, no, no.

Well, that's it.

You see, I loved it.

And so I started and they were called Joe's Witterings.

And what happened was the most beautiful thing happened.

I ended up doing it became called Lockdown Coffee Club.

And every day, every weekday from 11 to 11:30, I would go live and where is it?

I've got it here.

To the extent we had little badges made.

Oh.

And anyway, so Lockdown Coffee Club was in this incredible thing and then suddenly out of the blue, I.

I don't.

I can't remember.

In the second lockdown, I got this email from a researcher from Ricochet who make the bidding room and the repair shop, asking if I would audition and so it was all done by Zoom.

So you can imagine that was when we were coping with all that.

And.

And I got it and I went here.

Were you nervous auditioning?

Well, that's the thing.

I'm.

I'm a.

I'm a performer, you know, I love the limelight.

I.

What can I say?

I just.

I just.

It's.

It's.

It's what I love doing.

It is like performing, so.

But it's me, you know, I'm not acting.

What you get is what you see.

No, that's the wrong way around, isn't it?

What you see is what you get or whatever.

And I.

I always say that who I am as the antique Steva is me on steroids.

It's everything.

That's who I am.

Just amped up.

A little bit louder, a little bit bigger, a little bit.

Just a little bit more.

Yeah, that's me.

I am.

I can't help it.

I'm just very naturally, very loud, very enthusiastic, you know, and I know.

Fun shopping together.

We're going shopping.

Oh, God, yes.

Oh, definitely, definitely.

But the interesting thing about the bidding room is initially I was like the tail end of the donkey.

I don't think they might be saying that, but I was.

I was for like the last one and a half days of filming, so, you know, which is fine.

And then it's progressed and progressed and I sort of.

Each time I got a few more days.

I mean, you know, as you know, with tv, nothing is.

You know, I'll probably be.

I don't.

I'll probably be cut or whatever.

But I found my.

I just love it.

I just find my sort of.

Yeah, I just love it.

It's great.

So you saying this, so I didn't want to interrupt you and I didn't want to forget my thoughts, so I literally grabbed.

Scrolling on a sheet of paper.

So.

Same as finding your tribe.

Yeah.

So I believe that finding your tribe is one of the single most important things that you can do as an antiques dealer to ensure your success in business.

And I read an article recently in Ink, you know, Ink magazine?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So Ink magazine has the best newsletter.

I love their newsletter.

It's one of the few things I read every day.

And Inc Newsletter said that the single most leading factor in finding six in.

In the single most success.

How did they phrase this?

The single most leading factor in predicting success among leaders is self awareness.

And as you were talking about finding your tribe, literally, I was like, these are two of the most important things you're very self aware.

You were, you were sitting there telling me about I'm an introvert, but I'm an extroverted introvert.

And I'm actually the opposite.

I'm an extrovert who happens to be a very introverted extrovert.

I, I'm very much an extrovert, but I get my energy by refueling alone.

So I step out and then I have to step back to refuel, step out, step back to refuel.

And so as you were describing in a very self aware way, what made you tick and what made you function and simultaneously telling the story of you found your tribe, I thought, and that's why you've been so successful.

Those are two of the most important traits you can have in any to, in predicting success.

That's really interesting.

And quite often I, I have no regrets about life, but sometimes I sort of think, you know, people say, well, why didn't you start it earlier and all that?

And, and I think I wasn't ready.

It, you know, it, it just was one of those things.

And I guess that's also why I'm making the most of it now, you know, because every day counts.

Yep.

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

When I was young, growing up as a teenager and as a child, I was really ill as a child and I had a breathing disorder where I still have it, where my vocal cords close instead of open when I inhale.

And it's just my vocal cords function in the reverse that they're supposed to function.

And it means sometimes my voice sounds very breathy, which with doing a podcast, I'm super aware of it because you never want to sound like you're panting into the, you never want to sound like you're panting into the podcast.

And occasionally I have had people say, oh, you had a Marilyn Monroe quality to your voice.

And I'm like, no, I just, I have a breathing disability anyway.

I think the breathing disability, what it gave me as a child, it gave me carpe diem.

I grew up with my parents always talking like under hush voices like at the doctors, is she gonna die?

And as a result of growing up with that, my mentality, who I am as a human being, I am someone that I'm gonna live and I live every single moment to the fullest.

And I think it makes perfect sense that you weren't ready.

It's like there's stages of life for things.

You, you, you were half baked before.

Now you weren't ready to be doing what you're doing now.

I love that.

Yeah, definitely half baked.

That's a, that's a really good way of putting it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So for you personally, do you know what's next?

Like, do you have an idea of what you want?

Well, that, it, I.

I guess I am very driven and it's, it's one of these interesting.

I'm going to try and verbalize it.

The brain is going, it takes time to come down.

I, I love, I love having challenges.

So literally these last three days, I've had my latest challenge, which is amazing, and I've, and it's very grown up and I've just moved into Durham Antiques in Stone the Balls and have a room there and I hadn't, I hadn't sort of set that as a goal because a lot of places I went to and I, I, it didn't have the right vibe for me, but this did have the right vibe.

And the opportunity came along and, and you seized that opportunity.

I just want to be.

I have this.

No, I'll go back.

I have this vision of, my hashtag for what I do is faded baroque.

And I have this vision of a home, how that is decorated with faded brock.

And that's what I want to create the objects for that and to pass those on to other people.

I love doing that.

I love engaging the people and I just want to do it and get the best, the best objects that I can.

And that's it really.

I guess.

Yeah.

And just take over the world.

Absolutely.

And take over the world.

Just in the spare time, of course.

I think that's a done deal.

That's, that's, they always say when it comes to manifesting that you have to really feel it in order to achieve it.

Yeah.

You've already achieved that.

Like there's no question it's already done.

I love the hashtag faded baroque.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I, I, I've had that some time because the objects that I particularly love, they're not what I would.

Perfect antiques.

That's, that's not me.

They often have, they show, they have that imperfection and I love that sense of history, the look of it.

It's not shabby chic.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with shabby chic, but it is, it's just not my thing.

So if it's got a chip out of it or it's, it's, it's slightly it for me, that's not a problem.

I, I love it even more, I guess.

Me too.

Yeah.

My theory is I'm like, okay, I'm not quite my skin's not as firm as it used to be.

I have a little more wrinkles, I have a little more patina.

I'm like, if something is 150 years old, it should show signs of wear.

Like, I, I'm.

I once tried Botox and I look like such a freak because I'm a very expressive person.

And I realized, oh yeah, my face is my, I'm stronger than Botox.

My face was, it could not contort, it couldn't be held in one position.

And I think with it, when it comes to antiques, it's the same thing that you want to see a little patina.

So I'm just showing my patina as I age.

Hey, just wait for another 20 years.

I will tell you if I can look like you in 20 years, I will be over the moon.

And what, what I'm predicting now.

So you said you're 72?

Yeah.

Okay.

And I'm 51.

And I'll be 52 in October, so I'm predicting.

So 80.

That'd make you 92.

When I'm 72 and you're 92.

I would like us to do a reunion and I think we're both gonna look so darn good.

And we're, we're gonna, we're gonna take this act on the road 20 years from today.

Oh, fabulous.

Well, why wait 20 years?

Let's do it now.

I agree.

No.

No time like today.

So where are some of your favorite places?

Shopping with vintage.

Say it again.

Vintage.

French farmhouse.

Oh, I know you've been all over.

The south of France.

I'm curious if you can share some of your favorite.

Well, I'm, I'm.

This honestly is the truth.

And this isn't a get out clause.

It really isn't.

But what is?

What?

Well, anywhere really, where I shop.

Each place honestly has it's different vibe and if it was all in the same sort of place for me, it would lose it.

So from.

And I, I apologize now for my French.

I'm on day.

That was my next question for you about speaking French because having filmed in France, I'm curious.

I'm curious how that went.

I am embarrassed to say.

I, I am, I am dyslexic and language is impossible.

And I was so embarrassed when I was filming that.

And I'm on day 462 of Duolingo.

I am no better.

I am no goals.

Not many people make it on day 400.

I just, I just, it just sort of like goes in one ear and comes out the other.

But what I was going to say.

I speak like a Spanish cow.

I speak French like a Spanish cow.

This is the sentence that is my gold.

When I go in with a French antique stealer and I'm talking to them and at a certain point I see them frowning because of my American accent and I speak French with confidence and fast, but at a certain point I can tell they don't understand me.

And then the joke, the second I make that joke, they suddenly understand everything I say.

What does that mean?

It means I speak French like a Spanish cow.

And I think the French like it when you insult yourself.

So this is, this is my little tidbit.

Next time you're there, you tell them you speak like a Spanish cow and.

And they'll be your new best friend.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But the great, the great thing about it, from the French speaking French point or not being able to speak French is bless them.

It's because I.

I have this ability to engage with people and smile.

It's about, it's about being.

I think it's just about being a really nice human being, to be honest.

Yes.

You know, not.

Not beating them down too much.

They've got a.

They've got to make a living.

I've got to make a living about being kind, about loving their stuff.

Stock engaging with them as best you can, even if it is via the iPhone.

And that is just treating them with respect, really.

So.

So it worked.

But going back to where to buy is it illustration?

You know what I mean, don't you?

Yeah.

Ilsa Le Sorg.

Thank you.

Thank you.

When we tried to film it, the poor director just gave up and said, just don't bother, Jim.

I couldn't say the word.

But really, the love.

Oh, the lovely little markets underneath the.

The plane trees, the huge proper antique places.

You know, the, the little set up on Sunday in a village with the roadblocks put in and it.

And it's more like a couple car boot.

Good.

Every one of them has something to offer in a different way.

It's.

It's just the best.

Yeah.

All of it.

Just experience.

All of it.

You know, had you.

Had you traveled in France much before filming there.

Yes.

Yeah.

Hubs is.

That's my husband call him Hubs.

He's a motorbike cyclist.

And your story gets even better.

And the juicy parts.

33 minutes in I get.

Okay.

I stupidly.

Must be 12 years ago.

12 years ago, I stupidly said to him, and he's always had a motorbike.

I stupidly said to him, what's the one thing in life you've never done.

And he's immediately said motorcycle to roam.

And I went, well, and I had only been on the back once at that time.

And I went, right, well, could we.

Go somewhere a bit closer to home first?

And I was sucked in because of course it meant that he had to buy a new motorbike.

So for the last 12 years, we've done thousands of miles on the motorbike in Europe.

So.

Yeah, lots in France.

Okay.

I'm picturing you, you know, with you and hubs on the motorbike and an antique chair tied to the back behind you.

Like, it does limit what you buy, what you bring back with you.

Yeah, but that, of course, was a lot of.

It was before I, I got into this, so it was okay.

But now we obviously take the van and, and he's, he's really.

You can put the motorbike in the back of the van and then that way you get out, you have the local car for, for going around.

The motorbike is almost as big as the van.

It's a good motorbike.

My younger brother is a Harley Davidson motorcycle Mechanic on Route 66 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

So I, I have through.

Through my younger brother, I have vicarious experience with serious motorbikes.

Yeah.

Oh, it's.

It's great fun.

Great fun.

Very challenging.

I can imagine.

Also, I would think driving in Italy, I mean, driving down to Rome on a motorbike would be heart failing.

Yeah, we, we've done.

It's mainly northern Italy.

We've been, we haven't been much further south.

So.

Yeah, I'm living in Venice, by the way.

So I'm at my home in Venice, Italy.

And if you listen slightly, you can hear the conservatory next door is coming in through the window.

So where are you located now?

I'm.

I'm located right in the center of England.

You couldn't get more central in a small town called Kenilworth.

We have an amazing ruined castle, which is absolutely beautiful.

But the great thing about being here is that it's easy access to, to everywhere.

And my husband, we're here mainly because my husband works at Warwick University.

Okay, wait, which university?

Warwick.

Warwick.

Okay.

Yeah.

When you said Warwick, I heard Woking.

And in a very bizarre moment of my life, I.

In my 20s, I was living in Paris and my ex husband was transferred to Woking.

And so I almost moved to England.

But by the time we got to Woking, they had shut down the division of the company.

So we just stayed in Paris.

So I was like, hold on, wait.

We may have overlapped at one small moment in time.

No, it doesn't sound like it, does it?

No, no, but.

So one of the things that I like is that with, with your story of you going shopping in.

In whether the south of France or throughout France or Italy or wherever, language is not an obstacle.

You said one of the key things that you can always communicate with the dealer, like you can always figure out, even if it means opening up your cell phone and using Google Translate, even if it means opening up your calculator and he types in the number and you type in the number.

And perhaps the most important thing I think you said was the fact that everybody wins.

You're.

When you're negotiating, you're negotiating in a way that is kind, that is considerate, and you recognize you need to make money and the dealer needs to make money.

And again, I think this is a very.

I think this is another characteristic of successful people.

I think successful people, Everybody wins that everybody walks out of the situation feeling like they've.

They've had a successful sell.

Yeah, it's.

I mean, there is.

What I also love about doing this is there is so much to learn.

And I couldn't understand.

I don't.

You.

I'm sure you've heard the joke about the Queen Anne chair.

Okay, no, tell me the joke.

This is a joke I've heard years ago and I never understood it.

So.

But it's not really.

Well, basically, there are three antique dealers on a desert island and there's a Queen Anne chair, and they all make a good living.

And I.

Business is great.

Business is booming.

And now, now I absolutely get it.

It is that each person is that feeding chain.

You have to have that feeding chain.

And.

And I know I have colleagues who do not.

Don't get that.

And.

And don't want to play that game, which is.

It's fine.

It's fine.

But I think it's a very.

That feeding and that moving round is so very important.

I think it's key.

Understanding your place in the food chain.

For a dealer.

One of our main services that we do is business.

Business coaching.

And you can sell at whatever price that you.

You can sell at whatever price you want.

The right price.

I remember now I said there were two things earlier and I forgot one of them, and I thought, it'll come back.

One of the things that, as you were talking, I thought the right price is the price you paid.

And so the right price is the right.

The right price is the price you paid the right price is the price you can sell it at and what you can sell it at versus what I can sell it at versus what my cat Fortuny, who's sitting behind the camera can sell it at.

They're all different prices.

And when we're working with clients doing business coaching, it's like, who, where, where do you want to be?

And I think that's a really good question of asking yourself, where do you want to be in this process?

Where do you want to be in this food chain?

Yeah, exactly.

And I think I, I mean, I just could not agree more with you.

And it's interesting.

It's taken time for Hubs who's in the academic world to understand.

Understand that and knowing.

Exactly.

So, you know, I knew that when I was at the Car Boots, I knew that when I was in the small affairs, I knew that when I was in the sort of more vintage world.

And it's, it's, it's a crucial, crucial understanding and respecting that really, and being happy with it and also knowing where you want to be.

I think it's only by doing it, it's only getting out there.

And as we know, there's no such thing as failure.

It's feedback.

And that's why you go out there, you make a loss and you.

Or whatever.

And yeah, okay, that, that place isn't for me or that place is.

It's, it's finding within your tribe, finding your, your niche where you, where you operate.

I think it's why I finally felt it was the right moment for me to, for me to sell antiques is.

I felt like I had finally found here in Italy.

I've, I'm fortunate in that I've been integrated very well into, into society when I move.

So everything in Italy is done by who, you know, it's.

I think half of Europe is that way too.

But one of my very dear friends has a enormous tattoo on her arm and it's the tattoo of the lion of Saint Marco.

And when I first met her, I remember commenting on it and she said, oh, it's my family crest.

And I didn't realize, like her family was the fifth Doge in Venice.

And so when I moved to Venice, the introduction I had into Venice life was through one of my best friends who happened to be the ancestor of the fifth Doge of Venice.

Which it meant that I was given opportunities that were not my own opportunities.

It was I.

She very graciously made introductions which made connections.

And part of being here in Italy, I've Been able to get inside a lot of homes.

And I think you.

You.

This conversation totally hit the nail on the head of the reason I feel confident to start is I feel finally that I'm at the buying.

I'm able to buy at the level that I can bring something to my clients that isn't buying where they're buying at the same spot, but is buying simply through.

So what I did with opening the warehouse, I called some friends in Rome and I said, okay, I know you guys want to sell stuff.

This is like inventory.

It's not inventory.

It's stuff in their.

Their private palaces.

And I said, okay, if I get a truck.

You've been wanting to sell this for years.

And it's been hard for me to sell it to the right person at the right time because of the way we shop.

We take clients on tours.

And I said, but if you put it in my warehouse on consignment.

And I told one person, and then four dealers in Florence said, oh, we want to put inventory in.

And then I told one person in Rome, and every time I turn around, I'm getting another message from someone else saying, wait, will you take this, too?

And.

But you hit the nail on the head.

It's because I finally found my place in this industry, and it's taken.

I wasn't baked yet.

I.

Maybe I'm finally baked.

Oh, no, no, no, no.

You're never finely baked.

No.

That's what's so wonderful.

Because that's chocolate.

Exactly, exactly.

Put icing on top, put sprinkles on top, put things in.

You'll never.

Until you die.

You know, you'll continue until I die.

Well, okay.

I.

I do like accessories, though, so I can go with accessories.

Accessories.

Accessories.

Accessories.

Okay.

I have to tell you, you're every bit as fabulous as I was expecting you to be.

You're kind, you are generous, and you are full of so much wisdom.

I really appreciate just the advice that you've shared today, the insight you've given to our listeners.

And I can't wait to meet you in person in England in a few weeks at our antique Stealer training program, which is going to be held at Fontaine in their Elizabethan Manor House, the March 9th through 14th.

You're the opening speaker that morning.

Well, I have to say it's been an absolute pleasure.

Likewise.

To meet you.

And likewise.

I can't wait to meet you in real life.

And I have to say, the setting of your workshops, everything is just stunning.

It's just.

I can't wait.

Yeah.

It's fabulous.

Well, I can't wait.

And I want to hold hands and skip through the fields in front of their house.

Right, you're on.

That's a date.

Okay, tell everyone.

Tell everyone how they can find you, your Instagram, your website, etc.

Because I know they're all going to want to follow up with you.

Okay, well, the main thing is my Instagram.

Instagram is my second home and my handle is at with Joe Roberts.

That's W I t H J o r o B EE R T S with Jo Roberts.

I'd love to see you there.

Thank you so much, Joe.

It was a pleasure having you.

And I'll see you in a few weeks.

Okay, you take care.

Thanks so much.

Bye now.

Bye.

I hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Business of Anthony antiques.

I'm Tom McLark Haines, the Antiques diva, and I'm helping you make your passion for antiques profitable.

Talk to you next time.

Ciao.

Ciao.

Sam.